1. He who is of sound judgment pardoned my dereliction, so the obligatory duties remain neglected;
I avoid the cushioned seat, so temptation and desire remain.

2. The place of gathering has changed its features after we frequented it, and the resting-places have passed away.
I fancied I saw in it vestiges to which I was accustomed, after six years and this is the seventh.

3. Ashen dust like the kohl of the eye, I make evident my plaint, and a slumber like the moisture of the cistern, dark and humble.
As though the course of the Pleiades declined because a matting on which the manufacturers have worked has been spread over it.

4. On the back of a new constructed building, its walls he circulates amidst the soft sand selling.
I brushed away a tear from myself but I turned it back onto my throat, a beginner and a tearful one.

5. At a time when I chided hoary hairs over youth, and said: "How sound is even hoary hair when it deters!"
But an anxiety has intervened, occupying the place of the diadem, which the fingers seek.

6. The feast day of my father Qabus came to me, though its reality was changed, and below me a blanket, so the resting places!
I pass the night as though a slight viper has visited me, in whose fangs is deadly poison dripping.

7. It lulls to sleep harmlessly the jewellery of the women in his hands, clanking.
The charmers charm it against the evil of its poison; it divorces for a time, then returns.

8. It came to me: "May you be cursed! That you have wronged me, and that is what makes the ears tingle."
The saying that I should attain it, which is, coming from the like of you, shocking.

9. By my life ― and my life is not easy for me ― the dice have told against me a terrible tale.
The shocking tale of `Awf; I attempt nothing but it, faces of monkeys desiring one they may cozen.

10. There came to you a man harboring hatred against me, who has, from an enemy, the like of that pleading his cause,
Who came to you with a saying the woven threads of which are lies, and he brought not the truth which is brilliant.

11. He brought you a saying I was not going to utter, even if all fetters were bound upon my arms.
I swore an oath and left you no doubt, for does one sin, who has a nation, while obedient?

12. With fair companions, of smooth skin and plumpness, who visit at night, their progress jostling.
Wild cows their eyes rival the wind, for them on the road are equipages and litters.

13. Dishevelled they cling to their pilgrimage, so they are like the ends of cane, bending.
You have burdened me with the sin of a man and left him, like the one whose shoulder bears the knotted ropes.

14. If I am not believed when I deny it, and my oath of innocence is unavailing,
And I am not safe with anything I may say, while you are resolved upon a matter unavoidably occurring,

15. Then you are like the night that overtakes me, though I think the refuge from you ample.
Bits of slender rope in strong ropes whereby hands pull toward you, tempting.

16. Do you threaten a slave who has not betrayed you any trust, and leave a slave who is unjust while he is rising?
You are a spring that nourishes people with its rain clouds, and a sword that death has lent as one cutting.

17. God has refused anything but His justice and loyalty, so neither favour is lost nor the known forgotten.
You give drink when you wish, inexhaustible, with a leather bucket whose cords are fine musk, fragrant.